THE U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT IS SHARING BANK DATA WITH INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

Even though the U.S. Treasury Department allows intelligence agencies such as the CIA and NSA to access Americans’ banking information, there are a few limits.

At the end of last week, the Treasury described how it does give some bulk information to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), but that it requires agencies to make “best efforts” to tap information only for specific cases and destroy any irrelevant data obtained in error, according to a Bloomberg analysis of a document detailing a 2010 agreement between the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the NCTC, which coordinates government anti-terrorism intelligence efforts.

“Make no mistake, financial intelligence is essential to what we do. We cannot map illicit financial networks or identify targets for actions without financial intelligence,” David Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) at the Treasury, said on June 2, citing feats that include stemming the flow of funds to Al-Qaeda and imposing economic pressure on Iran as examples of success.